Git 'Er Done Challenge at The Inspired Scrapper...

This week's scrapbooking challenge over at The Inspired Scrapper is to finish an incomplete layout/project. I am guilty of having several (or more!) pages in varying states of completion, so I had plenty to choose from. I settled on the page below, which is about my youngest child's 3rd birthday last year. He will be four in a few short weeks, so I thought it was timely.

*Photo Disclaimer - I don't take very good pictures of 2-page layouts! This is the best that I could do...how sad is that?!



I felt pretty good about the basic composition, but this page is obviously lacking those 'finishing touches'. When I first sat down and started staring at this page, I was completely lacking any kind of inspiration or direction. I was in the process of packing it up again and choosing something else when I told myself to stop!! If I did that, I would just end up having to look at it again sometime, and I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to push myself through a creative block.

Here is the finished layout:



I must say, I am very pleased with the final product! I have been wanting to try an oh-so-trendy banner for a very long time and it was so easy - I love the result! The huge bonus for me is that I used some very ancient Basic Grey Vagabond fiber to hand the banner's flags from. I loooove using up older product!! I also added some older DCWV rub-ons, and I dug into my abundant stamp stash and used three different older and rarely-used acrylic stamps.

Go check out The Inspired Scrapper for some more finished layouts and their 'before' states, and get yourself motivated to finish one or more of your own!

Multitude Monday - Round 14

Joining in with A Holy Experience for Multitude Mondays...

200. Lego!!

201. A cheery finish to a week that started out a bit rough.

202. Upcoming trip to Disneyland - my first time to Disneyland, and my first time on a jet!

203. Fond memories of wonderful grandparents.

204. Coffee!

205. The West Coast climate.

206. Funky hats that hide a bad hair day.

207. Finding 5 or 10 minutes throughout the day for mental coffee breaks!

208. The wisdom that age and experience brings.

209. Three children who love their veggies.

Multlitude Monday - Lucky Number Round 13!

190. Finally getting a new cell phone and learning how to text. I no longer feel like such a dinosaur and I am now able to communicate more easily with my daughter when she is not home. And sometimes when she is!

191. Investing new energy into an old relationship.

192. Friends.

193. Creative sparks.

194. A brand-new school building/site for my son and our neighbourhood - and finally being able to walk there and back. It's brought so many people outside to walk in our neighbourhood, and makes our neighbourhood seem that much more cohesive. Such a great new opportunity!

195. My son's wonderful teacher.

196. Power naps.

197. The best drinking water straight from our tap.

198. Grandparents who love taking their grandchildren for overnights.

199. Music.

Multitude Monday - Round 12

This, my twelfth round of Multitude Monday, was written but not posted on December 27th, 2010, which explains the seasonal/Christmas references. I am posting it now because it is still very valid, and because I want to move on with my next list of ten things to be grateful for:

181. A relatively low-stress Christmas season

182. 'Modern' indulgences - specifically today, Netflix!

183. Starbucks Eggnog Lattes - such a treat!!

184. The many ways my children make each day such a delight!

185. The long-awaited and much anticipated pedestrian overpass finally being completed up the street, creating a much-appreciated short-cut across the ravine.

186. Living a comfortable lifestyle

187. Having experiences and points of reference in my life that enable me to really appreciate my life today.

188. Having resilience.

189. A husband who provides very well for his family.

190. Coming across THIS post again.